ENCORE #49! – The Wicked Witch of the West Is DEAD! – Thoughts on the Continuing Life as a Breast Cancer Husband

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry appeared in August of 2013…

We started celebrating our 26^th wedding anniversary this past week.

“Started celebrating” because as a teacher, my paycheck “runs out” at the end of the summer, a few weeks before we start work again. This has been true for the past 26 years just as it is true this year.

Because of that, we’ve never had what you’d call a “spectacular” anniversary. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had many GOOD times! Went to a local dinner theater last year to see the musical XANADU; did a “blockbuster movie” watch the year APOLLO 13 and EXCALIBUR came out topped with supper at the then brand new local Champps. For another we spent a night at a Bed & Breakfast in Stillwater. This year my wife had a quiet day at home while I hurried north to pick up my daughter-in-law and grandkids to ferry them to a doctor appointment – my granddaughter had pneumonia. We had takeout that night from our favorite Chinese restaurant and watched OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL. The addition though is that with some old and dear friends of ours, we’ll be spending the Thanksgiving holidays in Wild Eagle, Wisconsin at a resort for a week! That will allow us to celebrate in the style we should have been celebrating all along.

So what does all this have to do with breast cancer?

While it may not be obvious to you, it is to me: we get to celebrate our 26^th wedding anniversary two and (almost) a half years after a breast cancer diagnosis! In 1911 the diagnosis would have been a death sentence. In 1961, she would have been treated with “stone knives and bearskins” with drugs that would have made her violently ill and miserable – and probably wouldn’t have made much difference at all.

Here in the second decade of the 21^st Century, the treatments she received and continues to receive cured her of the cancer and given us a chance to celebrate our...well, when I exclaimed that we could be together for another 26 years, my wife pointed out that I would 90 years old by then. Hmmm...I guess if that’s God’s plan, then so be it. But 90? Whew – that DOES seem old.

At any rate, in the here and now, the point is that we’re planning an extended celebration of our 26^th Wedding Anniversary and those plans rest firmly on the basis of the pain, treatments, research, advances, and drug regimens my wife has experienced since the original diagnosis.

So “...let the joyous news be spread, the Wicked Old Witch at last is dead!” (And no, I DON’T mean the Wicked Witch of the East with the Ruby Slippers – I mean the melted remains of her sister – the Wicked Witch of the Cancerous West!)

Let the celebration continue!

Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5527/10893068965_1d328e8f71_b.jpg

BREAST CANCER RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #50: Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer In Relatives May Indicate an Increased Chance of Breast Cancer

From the moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting breast cancer research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/prostate-cancer-related-to-bc-risk

So…my wife had breast cancer. My dad had prostate cancer – but my MOM didn’t have breast cancer and I don’t have prostate cancer…

So, what does this mean for my kids?

Backtrack for a second: I have a BS in biology with additional classes in earth, space, soil, and chemical sciences that allow me to teach (at least one class of) anything from astronomy to zoology. I pretty much know what I’m talking about when it comes to genetics, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. NOT because the degree magically imparted on my special knowledge, but because I can read the reports, papers, abstracts, and scholarly articles and then understand them (sometimes with a bit of research).

So – I made a map, or a Cancer Family Tree. You can see it above.

Based on this article and my Cancer Family Tree, I can say that my daughter is NOT in this class of possible breast cancer risks. My sister isn’t, either.

I can’t say that I’m breathing a sigh of relief because we ALL know that BC is far more complicated than this. But it’s somewhat reassuring.

“‘These findings are important in that they can be used to support an approach by clinicians to collect a complete family history of all cancers -- particularly among first-degree relatives -- in order to assess patient risk for developing cancer,’ said Jennifer Beebe-Dimmer, Ph.D., M.P.H. of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University, who was the lead researcher. ‘Families with clustering of different tumors may be particularly important to study in order to discover new genetic mutations to explain this clustering.’”

I suppose I’ve “known” this all along, but seeing it in such stark terms, I can see that my family has a long history of cancers…not just one kind: lung, skin, prostate. My wife’s family is just as varied: lung, liver, breast cancers. It looks like my kids have an entire suite of things to keep an eye on. Not to worry. Strides are being made in cancer research all the time. It’s why we host such events as Relay For Life, Susan B. Kommen events, and all the others.

A cautionary note. Any of you ever see I AM LEGEND? “. The story is set in New York City after a virus, which was originally created to cure cancer, has wiped out most of mankind, leaving Neville as the last human in New York...” in a city infested with zombie-like nocturnal things. The movie opens with “Emma Thompson has an uncredited role as Dr. Alice Krippin, who appears on television explaining her vaccine for cancer that mutated into the ‘zombie’ virus.”

The cautionary note? Cancer is complex, varied, and has dozens of factors that affect it. There IS no straight line between genetics, environment, lifestyle and the onset of cancer in Humans. A Human-engineered vaccine against cancer could very easily succumb to natural forces and turn into something terrifying.

On THAT happy thought, see you later!

Image: Personal camera, © Guy Stewart 2016

ENCORE #48! – Not Your Usual Use of Microwaves…

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry appeared on my birthday in 2013.

When I think of microwaving something, I usually think of popcorn or my lunch, NOT how microwaves might be used to track the progress of tumor shrinkage during chemotherapy.

But that’s exactly what doctors used it for in a recent study and unlike traditional methods like x-ray mammography and ultrasound, they’ve discovered that microwaves tuned to very particular frequencies seem to pass through surround tissue and only resonate with the tumor. This gives a much, much clearer image of the tumor and therefore allows doctors to measure more accurately what’s going on inside the breast without having to invade it with needles or biopsies.

Why is this significant?

“1) its low cost and portability, especially relative to MRI and X-ray computed tomography (CT);

2) its use of safe nonionizing radiation;

3) its ability to image bulk electrical properties as a feature of tissue that is not imaged by most other modalities;

4) its ability, without the use of contrast agents, to quantitatively reconstruct frequency-dependent permittivity and conductivity profiles of living tissue as a way of identifying physiological conditions of those tissues.

“One possible application of MWT is in the frequent monitoring of tissue for the early detection of disease. For example, there is evidence to suggest that up to 22% of breast cancers detected by repeated mammographic screening naturally regress [1], and the ability to monitor these cancers with nonionizing radiation would be very useful. Significant progress in microwave imaging has been made in the last decade, with experimental prototypes having been used for the imaging of...breast tumors [4]. In addition, promising pilot studies for human breast imaging have been completed [5], [6].”

When the tumor is struck by microwaves at a certain frequency, it conducts electricity in a particular way. When the microwaves are captured on the other side, a computer looks at the differences in electrical conductivity AND CREATES AN IMAGE THAT IS CLEARER THAN USING OTHER METHODS!

The real plus here is that there is no danger of radiation. It doesn’t cost as much. It’s easier to carry this type of microwave unit around than it is to carry x-ray equipment or a an MRI machine (possibly making regular breast cancer screening MUCH MORE ACCESSIBLE to the rest of the women in the world!), and last of all, there’s no need to inject chemicals in order to see the tumor better in other imaging systems.

Promising, eh?

Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5527/10893068965_1d328e8f71_b.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…Alzheimer’s #2 Answering the Alzheimer’s Phone

Dad’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s stayed hidden from everyone until I took over the medical administration of my parents in 2015. Once I found out, there was a deafening silence from most of the people I know even though virtually all of them would add, “My _____ had Alzheimer’s…” But there was little help, little beyond people sadly shaking heads. Or horror stories. Lots of those. Even the ones who knew about the disease seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Alzheimer’s Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this prt of my blog…

“The Devil Wears Prada” is one if my favorite movies. I don’t really know why, but I think part of it is that, in the end, Emily (played by Anne Hathaway) dumps the role she’d assumed and that had been reinforced by everyone around her, and became herself – oh, and she’s a writer!

Be that as it may, a line from the movie has come to mind lately: “Nate: [as Andy takes a call from Miranda] You know, in case you were wondering - the person whose calls you always take? That's the relationship you're in. I hope you two are very happy together.”

Checking my own cell phone, I see that in the last seven days, I have 77 calls from my dad. Granted, I’ve only answered 33 of them, but still…

Right after my mom passed away, I Googled “Alzheimer’s” and found http://www.alz.org/ and their help 24/7 number (1-800-272-3900). I called. They answered. Then they connected me to someone LOCAL.

That was probably most helpful because I was able to talk with someone who was nearby; in the area I grew up in; with a similar worldview.

At any rate, in talking about Dad’s constant phone calls, they advised that I only answer the phone once a day.

“Once a day!” I exclaimed. “I don’t think I can do that to him.”

“You may need to or it will drive you crazy,” said the counselor.

As you can see above, I have failed miserably to follow her advice. According to my data, Dad calls on average 11 times a day. I answer him around three of those times. However, one of those days includes the Sunday me and my brother took Dad out to Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Besides Dad’s sister and brother-in-law, his mother and father are buried there as well (though at different grave sites as my grandmother died ten years after my grandfather did and married again). Mom is there, too. That day, Dad called only twice wondering where I was and when I was going to get there (the place he lives). After that, he was at the cemetery with us and then over at my house for supper. But on average, the number seems right.

The vast majority of those calls are to ask where Mom is. Sometimes he figures it out before I say anything. Sometimes I have to ask leading questions. Sometimes I have to tell him outright. Occasionally he calls worried that Mom left him; that she’s on a trip somewhere and forgot to tell him; or he confuses my sister and my mother asking, “Now, does Pat live in…” To which I reply, “No Dad, that’s where…”

In my defense, I offer up the logic that while Dad usually calls out of boredom and just rings up everyone on the list we gave him of all of us kids and our spouses, he’s only somewhere around Level Four on the Alzheimer’s Scale (I’ll talk about the two scales later), though he’s edging into Five. He’s pretty much cognizant of his surroundings, he can sometimes tell you where he lives, he dresses himself and can use the shower and toilet. He even takes care of Pretty Girl, the cat we gave to Mom after hers disappeared during the move to the residence a year ago. Once those skills start to fade, and according to the literature, he won’t have much farther to go until his body fails entirely.

He DOES get bored there. Sometimes he gets bored believing he hasn’t done anything…when he’s like…gone to an apple orchard.

That perhaps, is the saddest phone call of all.

Resource: http://www.alz.org/we_can_help_24_7_helpline.asp

Image:  http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/06/25/6360242025150255191939281878_Alzheimer-disease-patients.jpg

ENCORE #47! – SEX (after and during breast cancer treatment…)

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry appeared January of 2013…

After my “Brain Cancer” post, I predict that this will become my most popular post…

It’s one I knew I would get to, but is way too personal so I also knew I’d NEVER get to it.

A movie we watched last night has spurred me on to finally write this.

HOPE SPRINGS (with the word “eternal” just hanging there, unwritten, unspoken but entirely appropriate.)

Take a three of my favorite actors – Meryl Streep (for multiple movies that we love!); Tommy Lee Jones (for MEN IN BLACK); and Steve Carell (for making us laugh repeatedly…and for NOT doing one single funny thing in this movie!) – and create a story that can easily lead to CONVERSATION.

Which is I have discovered, more important than anything in a marriage.

I once read that the most important sex organ in the a Human body is not…ahem. It’s not…ahem. It’s not the skin.

It’s the BRAIN. And the brain, while doing all sorts of things (which HOPE SPRINGS talks about brilliantly) directs intelligent conversation.

It led last night, to all kinds of things, some of which I’ve talked about before: http://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2011/06/i.html, http://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2011/11/big-hairy-deal.html, http://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-would-men-like-better-bigger-boobs.html, and some of which are new, like this Indian-sounding thing I’ve been reading about called “kareeza” (http://www.reuniting.info/) which we will be exploring in the future.

So for all you sickos (8-D) who were hoping for a quick thrill, go rent the movie and then rub that most important sex organ of all…your head!

  

Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5527/10893068965_1d328e8f71_b.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT #29…Breast Cancer Awareness Month Part I…

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month right now.

It’s not funny, but strange that it seems that the issue isn’t “awareness” but importance.

In my local newsfeed, the number one story is “Beer fans steal campaign signs in Prior Lake”.

The CNN lead story: “Can Trump Recover?”

The BBC lead story: “Trump ‘sorry’ for obscene comments” (This leads the “Haiti hurricane death toll doubles to 800”)

The ABC (Australian Broadcast Company) lead story: “Donald Trump apologises for vulgar comments; targets Bill and Hillary Clinton”

So, we must be aware of breast cancer because the antics of idiot politicians (an oxymoron) “trump” any mention of breast cancer.

BC is relegated to minor status even though “As of June 2016, there were more than 2.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S. This figure includes women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment.”

“About 1 in 8 U.S. women — 12% — will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.

“In 2016, an estimated 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed, along with 61,000 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer (also known as carcinoma in situ). About 40,450 women are expected to die in 2016 from breast cancer, though there has been a decrease in death rates since 1989, with larger decreases in women under 50. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advancements, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.”

Internationally, the last time figures were calculated, there were 1.7 million new cases each year. The figure below shows the incidence of breast cancers in different regions of the world:

http://ww5.komen.org/uploadedImages/Content_Images/Figure%201-3.GIF

So, while we KNOW about breast cancer in the US, it’s clear that the issue is not the same worldwide. In some parts of the world, there is greater concern over infant mortality, malaria, malnutrition, and war; rightfully so – I’ve been to Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, and Haiti. All of these countries have experienced the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” while Americans have experienced none in recent history. “Awareness” then might be a relative thing. Is it Breast Cancer Awareness Month in China?

Turns out that “Yes, China DOES have a breast cancer awareness campaign!”

This is it for now – I’ll come back to the subject next time…

Resource: http://www.breastcancer.org/about_us/press_room/press_kit/facts_figures, http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com/beyond-the-pink-ribbon-breast-cancer-awareness-month-around-the-world/

Image: http://wrex.images.worldnow.com/images/23784252_SA.jpg

ENCORE #46! – I Have To Keep Telling Myself That The “New Normal” Isn’t The “Old Normal”

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry appeared in September of 2012.

Following Labor Day [2012], school started in Minnesota this week and that means that my wife and I are back into the swing of things again full time. Not that I haven’t been there since the second week of August; not that she hasn’t been training up on new and updated classroom management and methodology…

But this past week was the first week with KIDS!

Two miles of walking a day is pretty much a regular form of exercise for her. But the beginning of the year is ALWAYS harder after a long summer of NOT walking two miles a day!

This fall was no exception – except that it was harder than ever.

Maybe it’s natural aging – even for me, my knees aren’t what they used to be and I have a knuckle or two that feel like they may have a touch of arthritis every once in a while. I can’t stand up without grunting a bit and I have to tell my two-year-old grandson to “slow down! Grandpa can’t keep up with you!” That seems pretty normal for me.

But the first two days of school were murder on my wife! Not joint pains like with me, but muscle aches and pains to a point where she had to take an unnatural number of over-the-counter pain killers. Not that she hasn’t had aches after a day’s hard work. She chases kindergartners from here to eternity and has been doing it for several years. Before that, she did daycare for 17 years. Certainly lots of aches and pains.

HOWEVER…I was talking to another friend of mine, a long-term survivor of breast cancer and she pointed out that while she was pretty sure she was all set to get right back into life and start swinging again, she discovered that while she felt better than she’d remembered feeling in a long time, the FACT was that she was recovering from a recent bout with cancer, surgery and chemotherapy.

The FACT, she discovered, is that a Human body doesn’t bounce back from an ordeal like that quickly. We’re not talking about a bad cold. We’re not talking about walking pneumonia. We’re not even talking about flat-out-on-your-back pneumonia.

We’re talking about a disease so invasive, it can grow to lethal proportions in less than twelve months. We’re talking about surgery as radical as the amputation of a limb. We’re talking about being injected with chemicals so dangerous the handlers must wear goggles, gloves, masks, booties, and dressing gowns lest any get on their skin and cause profound BLISTERING!

No one in their right mind would expect such a victim to recover from such treatment in less than a year. Yet your average breast cancer survivor EXPECTS THAT OF THEMSELVES! They fully expect to go back to a full training regimen training for the Olympics or the Tour de France; they expect to return to caring for children and home without missing a beat; they expect to take up the reigns at whatever career they had to slow down for, snap them and get back up to full speed yesterday!

So – to those of you supporting a wife, girlfriend, mother, grandmother or partner through breast cancer – stand tight beside them, ready to offer an elbow lift if they stumble or slow down and to continue to work beside them toward as complete a recovery as EACH PERSON is capable of. It’s hardly easy, but has proven to be another, newer role I’m growing into.

Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5527/10893068965_1d328e8f71_b.jpg